The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday it was making contingency plans in case all 400,000 inhabitants of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani fled into Turkey to escape advancing Islamic State militants. Some 138,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees have entered southern Turkey in an exodus that began last week, and two border crossing points remain open, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. 'We are preparing for the potential of the whole population fleeing into Turkey. Anything could happen and that population of Kobani is 400,000,' UNHCR chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva. Scroll down for video


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Turkey authorities are checking arriving Syrians to ensure they are not fighters, 'to maintain the civilian character of asylum', Fleming said.


(CNN) -- France's history at major tournaments recently suggests no one should be calling "Les Bleus" title contenders at this year's World Cup just yet but after Friday's game against Switzerland even the team's harshest critics must be optimistic. France crushed Switzerland 5-2 in Salvador and almost booked its spot in the second round with two wins from as many games in Group E. The last time the French went 2-0 to start a World Cup, it won the title on home soil in 1998. Now that's a good omen. Things could still go wrong, however. Look at the European Championships two years ago, when Laurent Blanc led a long unbeaten French side to Poland and Ukraine. Still unbeaten and already qualified for the quarterfinals with a game to spare, France came unstuck in a dead rubber against Sweden and subsequently crumbled against Spain.


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France threatened to score almost every time it went forward.


President Barack Obama's national security adviser said Friday that her full-throated praise of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was appropriate given the former Taliban prisoner's willingness to go to war for his country -- despite questions about whether or not he deserted his Army colleagues. Susan Rice, who on Sunday said Bergdahl served the United States with "honor and distinction," told CNN in an interview that she was speaking about the fact the Idaho native enlisted and went to Afghanistan in the service of his country. "I realize there has been lots of discussion and controversy around this," Rice said. "But what I was referring to was the fact that this was a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. That, in and of itself, is a very honorable thing."

In the case of Benghazi, Rice said she "provided the best information that the
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United States government had at the time.